Month: January 2015

Kurt Carpenter is a successful Hollywood movie producer. He is also a realist and has invested his considerable fortune in building a survivalist compound in Northwestern Minnesota. Stocked with plenty of food and weapons, surrounded by a twenty foot wall and a moat, the compound known as The Home is designed to survive the worst. That day comes when a war in the middle east quickly gets out of control. Soon every country on the planet is chucking nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Now Carpenter and the selected friends and family must make their way to the home in a world where civilization and the rule of law is quickly collapsing.

Back in the eighties there were a number of series about life after a nuclear war. One of my favorites was the Endworld series by David Robbins. I loved the adventures of the warriors of the home as they traveled to different parts of the country in the post-nuclear America. They took on strange societies and kooky despots. The story had humor, action, drama, and colorful characters. It had stories with strong messages of family and the warrior ethos. In general it never took itself seriously and was a fun read. After 27 books and 13 in the spinoff series Blade the books like most just quit in the early nineties.

Well imagine my surprise when I found that the author has revived the series. This book is a prequel to the Endworld series. We finally get to see the legendary founder Kurt Carpenter and the beginnings of what a hundred years would become the Home and the Family. This is like finding an old friend after twenties years. Robbins has also completed a 28th book in the series with a 29th on the way. I am going to enjoy revisiting the exciting world that is Endworld.

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Two lesbians raise a daughter in post-WWII Iceland. A unique setting for this kind of story.

SHEBA by Robert Robinson.

A young boy gets a dog named Sheba. His best friend as he is constantly moved around the country. I could relate to this story. I moved around as a kid and my dog was my best friend.

A SPLASH OF RED by Shan Jeniah Burton.

Hawks. Hawks flying. Hawks swooping. Hawks flying and swooping. Hawks among the buffalo. Its nice to see that hawks are finally getting their story told.

SLIP AWAY by Joe Bellamy.

A guy goes to a party at a friends house. He has one weird ass experience.

THE CRUCIBLE by D.J. Lutz.

An English teacher at a private boys school is contemplating resigning. I can’t tell you how many jobs I had that I wanted to quit.

FOREVER AGAIN by Fallon Brown.

A lonely widower meets a lonely waitress. This is a real Meg Ryan chick flick type of story.

THE SANDS OF ALGERIA by Wesley J. Connell.

Two men are in a sand sailing race in Algeria. I didn’t know such a sport existed.

TEMPLE OF SLITHERING DEATH by me.

This is my debut as a writer. It is one weird story.

CULAQUN by Luther M. Siler.

In a magical land a warrior comes to a Culaqun witch for help against a fearsome dragon. Nice twist ending for this story.

THE WANDERER by Bilal Rahmani.

A wandering knight looks for food and shelter in a village.

IRON CAVE by Nicholas Conley.

Ok I have to admit I really don’t know what this story is about. I think its about the universe. Like the universe it has no beginning or end. It just is.

THE MUTINEERS OF STARVATION by L.S. Engler.

A family struggles on a penal colony on a distant world. They must fight off hordes from the province of Starvation. Now this is my type of story. People getting shot, blown up and stabbed with swords. I enjoy a lot of action in stories.

So I finally got around to reading one of my free copies this week. I is really exciting to see something that I wrote actually in print. I wrote this story ten years ago and had no luck selling it. I just sent it in on a whim thinking nothing would come of it. I did start another story kind of a prequel to the one here. I am seriously considering finishing it.

So go ahead and check out this review.

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In the near future things aren’t going well. An OPEC embargo is hurting the economy. The US has a 15% unemployment rate with a 30% projected by the next presidential elections. The president is himself a weak and ineffective leader. He has cancer which he’s covering up and also has a drinking problem. The military has went through extreme cutbacks and can barely subdue an insurgency in Puerto Rico.

The Soviets decide to take advantage of this. A war between Vietnam and China is the opportunity to strike. The Soviets invade China with the intention of annexing Manchuria. They also attack Western Europe. Things quickly get out of control with the Soviets resorting to tactical nukes and nerve gas to subdue the Chinese. An attack on a secret germ warfare facility releases a plague that devastates the survivors of the war. The final part of the book deals with Jack Dawson and his battle to lead the survivors against a rampaging street gang called the Demons that are looting and countryside.

I saw an advertisement in one of the books I was reading for this book. It was a post-apocalyptic book that I somehow missed back in the day and decided to check it out. Wow was this book a train wreck. Where to begin. The book is divided into many little chapters and subchapters numbered wrong that jump the story all over the place. Even in the subchapters the author quickly jumps his point of view. I remember a chapter about a fighter pilot flying to Europe. He is guided by a phony radio transmission into the North Sea. Suddenly we are on a Soviet destroyer that is having a mutiny by its Ukrainian crew. What the hell just happened?

Also the dialogue is just atrocious, stilted and unbelievable. One part has the conversation between the Soviet premier and the President. The premier demands complete surrender and states he didn’t care it the Soviet Union lost 90% of its population as long as the surviving 10% are dedicated Communists. Just really hokey.

Still like any train wreck you can’t help but watch in fascination. The endless stories of death and destruction are kind of interesting. Chinese cities are being wiped out with nerve gas attacks. One instance had the Chinese decide to detonate their nuclear stockpiles rather the have them be captured. A twenty thousand megaton explosion results. It melts the snows on Everest, causes Mt. Etna in Italy to erupt and tidal waves in the Great Lakes that kill thousands. There is an epic sense of destruction. The final part of the book that deals with the battle with the Demons is where the poor writing really takes its toll. The story just drags with repetitive battles that are neither realistic or exciting.

I don’t regret getting this book. It kept my interest about 80% of the book. I know I would have jumped on getting this as a kid if I seen it in the bookrack at the local grocery store. Anyway I kind of take comfort in this book. Thirty years ago someone was living in a world that looked like it was going down the drain. The world now does seem to be heading for a complete breakdown. Maybe thirty years in the future someone will be reading books written now about how bad things are going to be.

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Colonel John Hardin and his men are returning from their last adventure with the Corsican mafia when they come upon a squad of marines under attack at a temple. After they rescue them and find out they are guarding a beautiful photojournalist. Also they recover a strange gas mask. Further examination of the mask points to a highly sophisticated mask of Chinese origin. Combined with reports from remote villages in Laos of a highly deadly gas they call sky fire. It points to a Chinese nerve gas being developed for use against US troops in Vietnam.

Hardin is later kidnapped by General Tho the dapper North Vietnamese that Hardin had a run in with the first two books. He wants Hardin to destroy the nerve gas facility across the DMZ. Tho has concerns of growing Chinese influence in the government. He gives detailed plans for the facility. Hardin and his men go off to destroy it. On the way they join up with the marine squad and the photojournalist who are in fact KGB agents. The Soviets are also concerned with growing Chinese influence in Vietnam and join forces.

The final book in the series has it all. Evil Chinese scientists and beautiful KGB agents. Now does it make sense that the Vietnamese would use a massive nerve gas attack. Well that one of the large logic gaps you could fly a 747 through with plenty of wing room to spare. You just have to go with it.

I notice for a Vietnam war series that the North Vietnamese are not really the main enemy in any of the books. Sure they are killed by the boatload but they just seem to be in the way. The real enemy is the corruption in the army. Traitorous generals, rogue redneck special forces with CIA support, Corsican/Sicilian mafia also with some CIA support. Now the last is the evil Chinese and their new nerve gas. I guess this is the Vietnam war through the eyes of an Englishman. It was an enjoyable journey through the pulpy books of yesterday.

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The story starts with a Huey helicopter on a secret courier mission from Laos being intercepted and shot down by three other Hueys. Colonel John Hardin is once again sitting around waiting for an assignment. He is still in the doghouse with the high command. He decides to take a joy ride with his friend Captain Marco in a cobra gunship. While flying along they discover the wreckage and decide to investigate. Suddenly another helicopter comes up and shoots them down. Hardin survives and fights off a patrol of NVA but one gets away with something from the downed Huey.

Now Hardin has to know what was so important for the NVA and why are American helicopters shooting down other copters.The trail leads to a rubber plantation run by a shady Frenchman. Hardin and his ragtag group of misfits now find themselves in the middle of a drug war between the Corsican Brotherhood and the Sicilian Mafia for control of the heroin trade for Southeast Asia.

The third book was one I got for my Christmas break back when I was fifteen. It was a fun experience to read it again on this Christmas break. I thought it was a fun book with the mystery in unraveling the mysterious bag and the helicopter incidents. Now that I have the entire series some of the other incidents make sense and I understand the background of the characters more clearly.

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Well a new year has started. 2014 was the year a started on wordpress and its been a positive experience. I read a lot of interesting posts. Connected with fascinating people from all around the world. What was totally unexpected was a actually published a short story from ten years ago.

So I thought I’d share what I was doing with my time off all last week and a fragmented vacation this week. I get New Years Eve and day off. Another passion of mine is movies. I almost went with a blog on reviewing my vast collection of DVD/Blu ray movies. I might some day actually start another blog. Well I used my Christmas bonus to acquire a whole bunch of new movies for my collection. Here are a sample

MY WAY Rival marathon runners a Korean and Japanese find themselves in the Japanese army fighting the Soviets in Mongolia. They are captured and then enter the Soviet army. Captured by Germans and are in the German army at Normandy. I found this movie on a blog and this a really interesting movie.

THE RAID 2 I got the first Raid last Christmas. This Indonesian movie was the most kick ass martial arts movie I ever saw and look forward to watching its sequel.

THE MUPPET MOVIE I watched this back when I was ten when it first came out.

THE LOST EMPIRE Take Enter the Dragon except with big haired silicon enhanced woman in the main roles. Indeed the ladies seem to have trouble finding clothes to contain them. After a while they just give up trying. A cheezy classic from the eighties.

MOONTRAP Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell head to the moon with guns to stop robots from conquering the Earth.